Forms: 1–2 besma, 1 besema, 3–4 besem, 3–5 besme, 4 beesme, bisme, 4–5 besum, 5 besumme, bessume, besowme, 5–7 besome, 6 bysom, beasome, bessem, 6–8 beesom(e, 7 beesum, beasom, (6 Sc. boosome, 7 bissome, 9 dial. bezom, bizzim, buzzom), 5– besom. [Com. WGer.: OE. besema, besma (= OFris. besma, OHG. besamo, MHG. besme, besem, mod.G. besen, Du. bezem):—OTeut. *besmon- (not found in EGer.). Ulterior derivation obscure.]
† 1. A bundle of rods or twigs used as an instrument of punishment; a birch. Obs. (L. fascis.)
c. 893. K. Ælfred, Oros., II. iii. § 2. He … hy … het ʓebindan, and … mid besman swingan.
a. 1225. St. Marher., 5. [He] strupeth hire steorcnaket … ant beateth hire bare bodi with bittere besmen.
a. 1225. Juliana, 16. Þu schalt beon ibeaten mid besmes.
2. An implement for sweeping, usually made of a bunch of broom, heather, birch, or other twigs bound together round a handle; a broom. (Dialectally, as in Scotland, the generic name for sweeping implements of any material, e.g., a heather, birch, or broom besom, a hair besom; but in literary Eng. ‘broom’ is now generic, and ‘besom’ specific.)
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Matt. xii. 44. He ʓemet hyt æmtiʓ, and ʓeclænsod mid besmum [v.r. besemum].
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 87. Mid beseme clene swopen.
1382. Wyclif, Matt. xii. 44. Clensid with bismes [1388 besyms].
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. clix. (1495), 708. Of the bowes and braunches of the byrche ben besomes made.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 33. Besme or besowme [1499 besym], scopa.
1493. Churchw. Acc. Walberswicke, Suffolk (Nichols, 1797), 185. A bessume of pekoks fethers.
1552. Huloet, Beasome, Loke in browme.
1580. Lyly, Euphues (Arb.), 309. There is no more difference betweene them, then betweene a Broome, and a Beesome.
1641. H. Best, Farm. Bks. (1856), 104. Wee make the miller take a besome and sweepe a place.
1697. Potter, Antiq. Greece, II. iii. (1715), 208. He swept the Temple with a Beasom of Lawrel.
1756. C. Lucas, Ess. Waters, III. 51. The … bath is scrubbed all over with a birchen beesom.
1855. Bohn’s Handbk. Prov., 259. There is little for the rake after the besom.
3. fig. Any agent that cleanses, purifies, or sweeps away things material or immaterial.
c. 1380. Wyclif, De Papa, Wks. (1880), 468. Ȝif he & his secte be … clensid wiþ besumms.
c. 1440. Hylton, Scala Perf. (W. de W. 1494), I. xlviii. Swepe thy soule clene wyth the besome of the drede of god.
1611. Bible, Isa. xiv. 23. I will sweepe it with the besome of destruction.
1639. Fuller, Holy War, I. xix. (1840), 35. The riuer Kishon, God’s besom to sweep away Sisera’s great army.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., I. III. ix. 139. With steel-besom, Rascality is brushed back into its dim depths.
1862. Tyndall, Mountaineer., iv. 30. Grandly the cloud-besom swept the mountains.
4. fig. Anything resembling a besom in shape; spec. applied to a comet.
1566. Knox, Hist. Ref., Wks. 1846, I. 254. A comet … called ‘The fyrie boosome.’
a. 1639. Spottiswood, Hist. Ch. Scot., II. (1677). 94. A Comet of that kind which the vulgars [call] a firie Bissome.
5. Applied dialectally to heath and broom, plants used for besoms. (Cf. broom, in its two senses.)
1796. Marshall, Econ. W. Devon. (E.D.S.). Beesom, bizzom, spartium scoparium, the broom plant.
1864. Capern, Devon Prov., Bizzim, Heath.
1878. Britten, Plant-n., 26. Basam, Basom, Bassam or Bisom, Sarothamnus scoparius.
6. Comb. and Attrib., as besom-handle, -staff, etc.; also besom-head, fig. a foolish or stupid person, a blockhead, whence besom-headed; besom-heath, heath used for making besoms; besom-rider, a witch, from the popular notion that they rode on broom-sticks; besom-tail, a tail formed like a besom, a bushy tail, whence besom-tailed; besom-weed = BESOM 5.
1864. Atkinson, Whitby Gloss., s.v. Bezom, ‘He’s as fond as a *bezom,’ or *‘bezom-headed,’ very foolish indeed.
1756. Phil. Trans., XLIX. 829. Erica brabantica … Low Dutch Heath, or *Besom Heath.
1664. H. More, Myst. Iniq., 161. Defaming them for *Beesom-riders or witches.
1871. Brooklyn Daily Union, 24 July, 2/1. Cannot the would-be winged ones vary the record of their lofty tumbles by taking a successful hint from these besom riders.
1678. Lond. Gaz., No. 1356/4. Lost or stolen … one of the King’s Setting Dogs … a long *beesum tail. Ibid. (1695), No. 3086/4. A dark Iron grey Mare … Silver Eyed, and *Besome Tailed.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, 628. *Bessem weede, or the herbe serving for Bysoms.
1642. Fuller, Holy & Prof. St., V. iii. 368. By a Witch-bridle they can make a fair of horses of an acre of *besome-weed.
